Windmill.



J. C. HANSON.

W-INDMILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28, 1910.

Patented Apr.

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WINDMILL. APPLIUTION FILBDMAB. 28, 1910.

y 989,7()5. Patented Apr. 18,1.911.

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JAMES c. HANsoN, or BAYARD, NEBRASKA.

d A'VVINDIVIILIA To all whom 'Lt 'may concern: Be it known that I, JAMES C. HANsoN, a citiZenof the United States, residing at Bayard, in the county of Morrill and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in lhlindmills; and I do declare ,the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the-invention, such as will 4enable others skilled in the art to which"itlappertains to make and use the same.

ThisV invention relates to vertical wind millsfand the object of the 'invention is to provide simple and efficient means whereby the blades of thewheel will automatically adjustthemselves to the force of the wind so thaththe ywheel will revolve at a predetermined velocity whatever may be the strength 4of vthe wind, and under an excessive 4force of air currents the blades will present A,their edges to the wind so that the' wheel will beout of'commission until the wind again subsides.

Afurlther object of the invention is tov provide means whereby the wheel may be manually ladjusted 4to an inoperative position without aifectingftheautomatic governing mechanism. i d

These objects and such other objects as will hereinafter'incidentally appear are attained in the 'use of the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the `invention consists-in certain novel features of the same, as Awill be hereinafter first fully described and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.v

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation ofV a lvertical wind wheel equipped with my improvements; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation ofthe same; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig, 1,-

Fig..4is ai'detail edge viewof a portion of, the wheel; Fig. 5 is a detail view taken lon- Specication of `Letters Patent. Patented Apr.

Application filed March 28, 1910. Serial No. 552,062.

ience, is indicatedin vthe present drawings in a merely conventional manner as will be readily understood. The wind wheel shaft 2 is mounted in suitable bearings at the up-v 'per end of the tower l, and on the outer or front end of the shaft I mount the wind wheel 3 whichconsists of a pair 'of hub disks 4 rigidly vsecured to the shaft, and a series ofspokesv'secured to said disks and radiating therefrom, thesaid spokes being:

connected at their outer ends by ya rim or annular band 6 and being connected and braced intermediatetheir" ends by 'struts 7:.

To the strut-sf?, and disposed betweenthe` spokes', I secure a ring 8`to the rear edge ofv which `I hinge the blades 9, the said blades being also hinged tothe rear edge ofthe rim1 gr band 6, ascle'arly shown in Figs. 3 anc Thel blades are arranged in groupsbe` tween successive spokes and the blades of each, group are connected by a segmental bar 10 hinged to the inner'edges of said blades and having one'end turned inward,

as sho-wnmost clearl in Fi's,` 4 and S so' as to normally engage the spokes adjacent thereto, and thereby hold the blades at the proper angle to the vertical plane of the wheel to secure the best results under the force of wind normally existing at the place where the wheel is set up. The segmental bars are provided with openings, in which' are engaged the upper ends of spring rods 12 which have their inner ends secured to an `adjusting or governor'disk 11 which is slidably mounted on the wind wheel shaft in rear of the wheel, as rshown` andaswill be readily understood.V These spring rods 12 are so ,disposed as to tend to move' the4 segmental bars` in that direction necessary to bring the inturned ends of said bars against the spokes', as shown in full lines in Fig. 4. In `this position the blades willbe disposed atan an'gleto the plane of the wheel and, therefore, 4across the path ofthe wind blowing against the same, so that the air currents will act onthe wheel to rotate the same. Should, however, the wind attain an excessive velocity, the increased force of thesamewill overcomethe tension ofthe spring rods and consequentlythrow the blades to the position shown in'dotte'd lines inFig. 4, in `which their edges are presented to the wind, 'and consequently the wheel will remain at rest. "By placing the said.4 spring rodsunder different degrees of tension the wheel may be adjusted to any desired wind force. It will be understood, of course, that the outer ends of the spring rods are not secured rigidly to the segmental bars, but will have a sliding engagement 'with the openings therein so that they will readily accommodate themselves to the different positions assumed by the said bars in adjusting the blades to the wind.

The adjustable governor disk 11 is connected to the rear or inner hub disk 1 by links 13 disposed at diametrically opposite points and having their opposite ends pivoted respectively to the hub disk and to the governor disk, as shown in Fig. 5. These links permit the governor disk to move to and from the hub while at the same time limiting the said movement so as to prevent said disk moving rearwardly to such an extent as to disengage the spring rods from the segmental bars or to otherwise aifect the adjustment or operativeness of the parts. The governor disk is held toward the hub by a spring 19 coiled around the shaft 2, between the tower and the said disk, so as to hold the spring rods normally in a vertical plane in rear of the wind wheel so that the torsion or resiliency of said rods will be exerted entirely in a line longitudinally of the segmental bars. Secured upon the tower, adjacent the wind wheel shaft, is a bracket 15, to the end of which is pivoted a lever 16 which is slotted to fit around the shaft and extend above the same, its upper end being secured to a chain or cable 18, which extends over suitable guides in the tower and thence down to the ground where it may be manually manipulated to operate said lever. The lever is connected by links 17 to the adjustable governor disk so that the movement of the lever will be transmitted directly to the disk, the preferable form of engagement between the links and the disk being a grooved collar 14' on the disk in which the ends of the links may be engaged as clearly shown in the drawings.

It is thought the operation and advantages of my improved wind wheel will be readily understood and appreciated from the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings. As before stated, the tension of the spring rods is exerted to hold the blades normally at an angle to the path of the wind so that the wheel will be actuated when the wind is blowing and the brake of the mill is released. Should it be desired to throw the wheel out of commission to permit of repairs or for other purposes, the cable 18 may be drawn downward and the lever 16 thereby pulled rearward so as to slide the governor disk 11 inward or rearward against the tension of the spring 19 so that the several spring rods will be drawn rearward and will thereby be caused to swing the segmental bars away from the respective spokes of the wheels and consequently turn the blades so that they will present their edges to the wind. When the cable is released, the force of the spring 19 and of the several spring rods will instantly return the blades to their normal operative position. Should the wind assume an excessive velocity the increased force of t-he same will overcome the tension of the springrods and the blades will then automatically present their edges to the wind as before stated and as will be readily understood.

It will be readily seen that my device is composed of very few parts so that liability of the same to get out of order is reduced to a minimum and the making of repairs is greatly facilitated.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim is :d

1. In a wind mill, the combination of a shaft, a wheel frame secured thereto, a plurality of blades hinged at their front edges to the rear side of the wheel frame, segmental bars hinged to the rear ends of the blades and connecting the same in groups, each of said bars having one end bent inwardly to pass between the ends of two adjacent groups of blades in position to engage the wheel frame, and spring rods each having its inner end connected with the shaft and its outer end engaged in a segmental bar to normally hold the forwardly bent end of said bar against the wheel frame.

2. In a wind mill, the combination of a shaft, a wheel frame secured thereto, a plurality of blades hinged at their front edges to the rear side of the wheel, segmental bars hinged to the rear edges of the blades and connecting the same in groups, each of said bars having an opening therethrough and having' one end bent inwardly to pass between the ends of two adjacent groups of blades in position to engage the wheel frame, and spring rods each having its inner end connected with the shaft and its outer end engaged with an opening in the segmental bar to normally hold said bar in engagement with the wheel frame.

3. In a wind mill, the combination of a` the said bar against the wheel frame, a disk 4 slidably mounted on the shaft and having the inner ends of the spring rods rigidly secured thereto, links connecting said disk with the Wheel frame7 a spring acting on my hand in presence of two subscribing Witsad disk to hold it normally toward the nesses. Wheel frame, a lever connected to the disk to move the same n opposition to said 5 spring, and means for operating the said Witnesses:

lever. E. RVANATTA,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set E. F. KELLEY.

JAMES C. HANSON.

Copies of lthis patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

